The present embodiments relate to identifying a location of a medical device or feature in an image.
The position of the catheter(s), other medical devices, or features may be determined in images. Such online tracking or position detection may be used in many applications, such as visual surveillance and real-time image guided interventions. However, due to complexity of the application environments, there is high possibility that the detection in the images may drift or be inaccurate due to missing detections, false alarms, occlusion, background noises, and other unpredictable factors.
2D X-ray fluoroscopy is routinely used for vascular interventions and for cardiac catheterization. Fluoroscopy is used for real-time monitoring of the procedure and catheter location visualization. However, 2D fluoroscopic images lack detailed anatomical information due to the incapability of X-ray in distinguishing among soft tissues. In order to augment the doctor's visualization of the body anatomy, for example, in the arterial fibrillation procedures, Intracardiac Echo (ICE) is used as an intra-operative modality to provide real-time cross-sectional ultrasound images.
In fluoroscopy, there are many types of devices of interest. For example, one is the guiding catheter, and another is the intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter. In interventions, both the guiding catheter tip and IVUS catheter are undergoing breathing motions. In additional, the devices can be connected to each other. There can be motions between them. For example, the IVUS catheter is also being pulled back through a guiding catheter during the intervention. Precisely tracking both IVUS catheter and guiding catheter tips has important applications, such as in the co-registration of IVUS and angiography images. However, inaccuracies in detection of these devices may lead to inaccuracies in the applications.